Mirror Image
by ShadowOfApate
Summary: Experimental Fic. Finding herself with nothing left, Chloe decides to go to a different dimension. A slightly different Smallville.


Title : Mirror Image  
Author : Tariq ( formerly Aeris Jade Orion )  
Rating : R  
Pairing : Chloe/Clark  
Timeline : Show end.

Summary : Faced with no future, Chloe travels  
to an alternate universe.

Authors note: It's unbeta'd. At the moment I  
have no beta reader for this genre. So drop me  
a line if you're interested.

Second, due to health issues, and taking care  
of my disabled mom, I haven't been able to  
write much. But over the last several years  
I've managed to slowly write on a number  
of stories.

What I've decided to do is go ahead and  
publish what I've managed to put together.  
The stories are unfinished, and sometimes,  
the last chapter I worked on is unfinished.  
Plus, there maybe multiple chapters, each one a  
different version. Just warning everyone.

So I apologize in advance.

Disclaimer : Not mine. All characters belong  
to WB and DC.

00000  
Prologue  
00000

Chloe sipped the aged brandy from the back of  
the wedding party. It was her fifth glass of  
the night, and it was far from her last. She  
watched Clark and Lois dancing together as  
the happy newly wed's.

The rest of the party wasn't nearly as happy,  
and she certainly didn't feel anything except  
a numb grimness. Lana couldn't come within a  
mile of Clark now because of the nanosuit she  
wore. Worse, it was slowly killing her, a fact  
Lana had told only Chloe about. The young woman  
would be dead inside the year.

Pete Ross was seated next to her. The young man's  
political career ruined before it could really  
get started. All due to his keeping Clark's  
secret. The FBI hadn't forgotten or forgiven  
him.

She could see him tossing back glasses of whiskey  
like they were water. A dark expression where  
his normal cheerful face would be. Judge Ross  
had confided in her about his new habit of drinking  
but she hadn't known how bad it was.

Martha Kentdid not approve of Clark's new anti-humanity  
views. Nor of the way he was going about the hero  
business. Delibriately harming people, not caring  
if innocents get injuried, the way he'd hurt Chloe  
on a number of occasions.

Chloe drained the rest of her brandy grimly.

The two Kents hadn't talked since. Martha had  
refused to come to the wedding, or have anything  
else to do with Lois and Clark until he straightened  
up.

As for the League...

She grabbed another brandy from a passing waiter,  
and took a gulp.

Darkseid had done a job on them. They'd won but  
the casualties...

Chloe was a widow for the second time, the sole  
heir to the Queen fortune. Bart and Canary were  
never going to be fighting the fight again. Their  
injuries too extensive. Cyborg's mind was now  
inside a computer, his body destroyed. Aquaman  
was in a coma, and Emil had no hope of him coming  
out of it.

Even Chloe hadn't come out unscathed. Emil had been  
forced to reactivate her meteor powers in order  
for her live. In addition, he'd had to perform  
surgery, and add certain cybernetic implants  
made of nanoprobes.

She slowly drained the brandy wishing she could  
get drunk. But her healing powers wouldn't let  
her. Sighing, she sat the glass down, and stared  
back at Lois.

Lois Lane, now Kent.

There was a subject she really didn't want to  
touch. Lois was her surrogate sister. She loved  
the tall brunette. Really she did. There was  
just one tiny little pesky habit Lois had.

If Chloe wanted something. Really, truly, loved,  
and obessed over something. Then Lois ended up  
having to have it.

Worse, she always got it.

Chloe didn't mind when Lois decided to stay in  
Smallville. She didn't mind when Lois started  
helping out with the Torch. But then suddenly  
Lois was the writing frong page articles at  
the Daily Planet, with Clark as her partner.  
Finally, Clark and Lois were getting married.

Chloe...

Chloe was black listed by Lex and couldn't  
get a job at any newspaper in the world. There  
was no more League, and no more need for her  
to play Watchtower. Oliver, her husband, was  
dead. She was a meteor freak, again, and now  
had enough nanoprobe implants to be considered  
a computer in her own right.

" Did he even remember to invite you? " Pete  
handed her a fresh brandy.

" No. " Chloe took the glass thankfully. " The  
happy couple didn't invite me until this morning  
after a last minute cancelilation. "

" Figures. " Pete murmured. " I don't like this  
version of Clark. He had the gall to threaten  
me. Said if I open my mouth about his secret  
he'd give me a free ride to the sun. "

Chloe didn't blame Lois. Her cousin didn't realize  
she did it, and Chloe never told her. She never  
saw the point. Maybe when she heard the Kryptonian  
marriage braclet had rejected Lois she should have  
taken her cousin aside, but she knew Clark needed  
someone.

Clark had driven everyone else away, and even though  
Chloe tried to still be there for him, he refused  
to let her. The only one he let close was Lois, so  
she remained silent, and hoped somehow her cousin  
would get through to him.

" It's my fault. " She let the entire glass of  
brandy slip effortlessly down her throat. " The  
mess with Doomsday did this. "

" It was his choice. " Pete darkly corrected, gulping  
his own whiskey.

Clark had never handled grief well. She knew that,  
boy did she. Unfornately, he hadn't come back from  
this trip down the rabbit hole, and after tommorrow,  
she wouldn't be here even if he did.

" Him and his damned guilt. " She reached for yet  
another brandy.

" Here, here. " Pete tapped his glass to hers. " To  
Clark Kent's inability to pull his head out of his  
ass. "

" To Clark Kent's membership to the jackass  
club. " She toasted.

" I'll drink to that. " Pete agreed.

Chloe considered her drink for a moment. " Pete,  
I'm leaving. "

" 'Bout time. " Pete slumped back. " Let's face  
it. Nothing is keeping you in Kansas. Lois and  
Clark have ditched you. Your friends are all  
dead, or elsewhere. Your only job is overseeing  
Queen Industries. "

" Not Kansas. " She corrected tiredly. " This  
reality. One of the scientist at Queen has  
been working on a way to travel to different  
universe's. "

" You're not serious. Why would you...? " Pete  
sobered.

" For all the reason's you gave. " Chloe shrugged.  
" There's nothing left for me here. Dad and mom  
were killed in the attack by Darkseid. You're all  
that's left. "

" Lana... " He started.

" ...is dying. " She finished. " All the arrangment's  
have been made. Dr. Raye has pinpointed a universe  
identical to this one with one difference. Dad and  
me died when the safe house exploded. When I'm sent  
through, I'll arrive shortly after that. "

" What about money? " He tried to argue.

" I've converted a sum over to unmarked gems. When  
I get there I can sell them. " She answered easily.

" Your age? " He weakly asked.

" I don't age due to my healing ability. Plus, Emil  
has developed a drug which will deage me to seventeen  
before I leave. I'll age naturally until I turn twenty  
one, and then stop again. " She brushed off.

" Damn it. " He cursed then perked up. " The other  
Chloe's body? "

" I dig up the grave, and use a special compound  
developed by Queen to destroy it. Rebury the grave,  
and reappear. " She smiled. " I'm sorry Pete, but  
I can't stay. "

" I get it. " He frowned. " I don't like it, but  
I get it. Still, are you sure you want to put up  
with the moron again? "

" I'm hoping to steer him on the straight and  
narrow this time. "

She swirled the last of her brandy in the glass  
and sighed. She hoped.

00000

" Are you sure about this, Chloe? " Emil hurriedly  
questioned for the thousandth time.

She shot him a glance from her seventeen year old  
body. A very unamused glance. She hated having  
the hormones of a teenager. Again. Being questioned  
on top of that... Yeah, right.

" Right. " Emil cleared his throat. " You have the  
gems. Several hundred thousand dollars worth. The  
lap top, and of course, your bag containing... "

She cocked her eyebrow at the mother hen. She liked  
the guy, he was a good friend. A great friend, in  
fact, but he was getting on her last nerve.

" We're all set. " He finally said. " Remember  
you can't come back so if you have any doubts... "

" I don't. " She firmly told him.

She really didn't. This was the right thing to do.  
The other world needed Watchtower. Not the place,  
and not the person she became during Doomsday, or  
even right after, but the person she really was.

The secret keeper. The guardian. Big brother.

Already she'd instructed the nanoprobes in her  
body to fully upgrade her. To expand to cover  
her entire body. It wasn't like Victor where  
he was taken apart and mechanic's were inserted.  
Instead the nanoprobes built over her bones. Melded  
with her nerves, blood vessels, brain, and other  
orgains.

Because of this the cybernetics were self-healing,  
and easier to upgrade. She could interact with  
technology much easier than Cyborg, too.

" Start it. " She ordered, shrugging on her backpack,  
and picking up a medium sized metal suitcase.

The backpack contained her custom made and upgraded  
laptop. It was very advanced, and her baby. All  
the items she was taking with her was also in the  
backpack. From the chemical to destroy the other  
Chloe's body, to a fake updated Will for her dad.

The suitcase was nothing but gems.

A beam of blue energy shot out of the machine,  
hitting the wall. A wide, steady opening appeared.  
In it she could see an alley in Smallville, and  
from the scene, it was nighttime.

" We have a lock. " Dr. Raye announced. " The  
universe it identical to this one. However, you,  
your father, and Lois Lane are dead. "

She froze at the last name. " Lois? "

" Yes. " The female doctor nodded. " It was the  
only universe I could find within your criteria.  
I'm sorry. "

She sighed softly. She didn't like the idea of  
living in a reality without Lois, but it couldn't  
be helped.

" Thank you Doctor. " She smiled.

She walked toward the portal, pausing right before  
stepping though. She took a deep breath letting  
the tension of the last few years leave her body,  
and started forward.

" CHLOE! "

She glanced over her shoulder calmly as Clark pushed  
his way into the room.

" Goodbye, Clark. " She simply said, and moved through  
the portal into the alley. Behind her the portal closed  
on Clark's cries, along with her dead end future.

Now it was time for her to try and help another Clark  
where she'd falled the original.

11111  
Chapter One  
11111

" Being alive is supposed to be a good thing. "  
Chloe snapped irratibly around her cup of third  
rate coffee.

She had managed what she needed to do in a timely  
manner. The gems were all sold, the money was all  
safely stashed away in certain untraceable off-sea's  
accounts. Her dad's fake Will was in the hands of  
his attorney and had been authenticatied. This  
realities Chloe had been dug up, and her body was  
destroyed.

Now, a week later, she'd been sitting in the  
Sheriff's office for six hours. It was two in  
the morning. The only thing she'd had to eat was  
stale donuts, and their coffee was the worst stuff  
she'd ever had. Which was saying something, since  
she'd once been forced to eat, yes eat, a cup of  
coffee from a gas station in Whizzer, Texas.

' Ergh. ' She shuddered.

" And we're all glad you are. " The Sheriff  
smiled. " Despite you being meteor infected. "

She eyed the woman suspiciously. There'd been no  
getting around telling the police about her  
healing abilities.

" Relax, Chloe, I don't see how you can go pyscho  
with an ability to heal others, and yourself. "  
The woman waved her hand. " I am sorry you were  
buried though. "

" Don't remind me. " She shivered violently.

She'd been buried alive at least once, and woken  
up in a morge draw several times. Neither were  
memories she wanted to linger on.

" I've already sent Tom over to the Hospital to  
warn them about your powers. " She reassured.  
" He'll make sure they add this to your file so  
this won't happen again. "

" Thanks. " She pulled her jacket tighter around  
herself.

Suddenly thick arms hefted her out of her chair,  
tightly hugging her. A familiar smell of hay, apples,  
and summer filled her nose.

" Clark, you big lug, put me down! " She scolded  
him half heartedly.

" You died! " He buried his face in her neck.

" I know! " She scoffed. " I ended up clawing my  
way through solid oak, and up through eight feet  
of tightly packed dirt. ACK! "

His arms on her tightened. Clearly he wasn't getting  
the idea of the whole letting her down bit. This  
was what happened when a guy touched pigskin.  
Their brain cell's died.

" What...? " Martha blinked.

" How is this possible? " Johnathan turned to the  
Sheriff.

" Chloe activated a meteor ability. " The Sheriff  
smirked at the two teens. " She can heal others,  
and herself. Even from death, as long as it's  
within a certain length of time. Thankfully, her  
ability is harmless, and hasn't made her unbalanced. "

" I said down, not harder. " She slapped his arm.

" I thought I lost you. " He whispered.

" You will, if you don't let me breath. " She  
snarked.

Finally, he let her loose, but kept his left arm  
draped over her shoulders.

" Honestly Kent. " She jabbed him in the ribs.  
" I'm not going anyplace. "

-  
To Be Continued 


End file.
